What causes a heart attack and what is the treatment?

What causes a heart attack and what is the treatment?

Heart attack is due to clotting of blood in a narrowed coronary artery. Risk factors for narrowing of coronary arteries due to plaques are modifiable and non modifiable ones.

Modifiable risk factors: obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking, dyslipidemia (abnormal fat in blood).

Non modifiable risk factors: advancing age, male gender, heredity (family history of premature coronary artery disease).

Heart attack can be treated immediately by analgesia, antiplatelet drugs and clot dissolving drugs or primary balloon angioplasty. Long term treatment is lifestyle modification with intensive medical therapy.